Stocks advance despite warnings

Second-quarter earnings, uncertain outlook still worry analysts

New York  News of more job cuts and a revenue warning from Hewlett-Packard pressured stocks Thursday, but Wall Street held firm, extending a rebound that began a day earlier.

The market's gains, which were strongest in tech stocks, came late in a session that was characterized by choppy trading. Analysts didn't expect the upturn to last, and noted that the fundamental problems that led to the market's selloff Monday and Tuesday hadn't disappeared.

Such skepticism appeared justified after the market closed, when JDS Uniphase reported earnings well below expectations and warned of revenue shortfalls ahead.

The Dow Jones industrials ended the regular session up 49.96 at 10,455.63, adding to a 164-point advance Wednesday. During morning trading, the blue chips were down as much as 121 points.

"We've had some pretty shaky days and it's nice to have a rebound, but we're not off to the races yet. There's still too much weakness in second-quarter earnings and the projections for the third quarter are not encouraging," said Matt Brown, head of equity management at Wilmington Trust.

The session had a sour start as tech bellwether Hewlett-Packard said it was cutting 6,000 jobs in addition to 4,700 previously announced and expected to see third-quarter revenues decline as much as 16 percent from a year earlier, falling short of Wall Street's expectations. The Dow component dropped more than 6 percent, down $1.68 at $24.

But those losses were offset by strong gains in other Dow stocks, including American Express, which gained 71 cents to $38.77, and Boeing, which advanced $1.44 to $58.11.

Investors shrugged off news of 12,500 new job cuts and a second-quarter loss at French networking company Alcatel, sending it up 82 cents, or more than 5 percent, to $15.82. The company previously announ-ced 7,500 layoffs.